Trend Pet Peeves/Rude Parents

Today I met a 16 month-old girl named Peishens. I was embarrassed because I had no idea what her name was when I saw it on paperwork, I assumed it was a family name being used as a first or a name from a culture I wasn't familiar with. I thought maybe it was pronounced pie-SHENZ but I didn't want to butcher it, so I introduced myself and politely asked her mother how to pronounce it before I said it aloud. Her mother looked at me like I was incredibly dumb, and very bluntly and rudely replied, "It's Patience." This woman was very well-spoken. I had read something she had written and it was grammatically correct and free of spelling errors, despite containing some elaborate speech, not to mention it actually contained the word "patient." She simply chose to use a different spelling for fun, and then was angry with me for asking to clarify her daughter's name. We also had a Kaeilla (think 'Kayla'). Kaeilla's father told me, after her mother became annoyed and complained that one of my co-workers mispronounced her daughter's name, that they couldn't decide between using an I or E instead of Y so they did both and "we wanted it to be really different, we don't like popular names, so we threw in an extra L for good measure." I kid you not.

I can't stand it when people butcher the spelling of well-established names, especially word-names, on purpose. I recognize that some names have had many accepted spellings for a long time, like Caitlin/Katelyn/Caitlyn, etc., and all the variations make sense phonetically. Accidents, accents, weird English spelling rules, learning disabilities, etc., can also be understood. I know someone whose mother spelled her name A-L-E-A-S-E because she had recently immigrated to the US and heard Elise colloquially and thought it was beautiful, and she knew the word "lease." The white sweetener you use in tea was "shooger" to me for the first six years of my life, until I realized that the word was written on the damn bag. This is how children learn to spell, by sounding out words and making connections, and that is understandable. However, naming your daughter Keighttlynn shows that you have enough of a grasp of the English language that you will exploit it for fun. When someone sees Peishens, or Payshenze, or Peighshonce, they don't automatically think Patience, and I'm offended and tired of getting rude reactions from these parents. If you want to name your daughter Holiday but that's just not different enough for you, please, please, please don't spell it Hallideigh and then be angry with someone for asking you to clarify.

Seen any crazy examples of this trend?
Had any parents give you some lip for making a mistake when saying or spelling their baby's name?
Any other trends that are driving anyone bonkers?

I did have one mommy snap at me because I mistakenly assumed that her little Logan was a boy. I had only a name on a page to go by, and Loganis a mega-popular name for boys...honestly, how was I supposed to know? I'm with you on this. If parents choose a name that is typically used for the other gender, is spelled differently, or defies all rules of phonics, they need to go into it with their eyes open and be prepared to correct people. If it's going to be a constant source of irritation for them (and for their child!), I think maybe they should reconsider.

I've come to this conclusion regarding situations like this one: I think these parents are rude because the spellings make them "seem" dumb so they try to turn it around and make the person who asks the question or makes an understandable mistake "feel" dumb in their place. Plus, it would probably have been the hundredth time someone has asked them this question about the name so they become fed-up with having to explain why they "look" like idiots. They're not very good role models for their daughter called "Peishens", are they?

I'm a substitute teacher, so I just have the rude parents' rude kids snapping at me for mispronouncing their misspelled/made up names. *sigh* I try to give them the benefit of the doubt and tell myself they have just grown up thinking their name is perfectly normal, so they don't understand why everyone says it wrong, but probably their parents are just as rude about it. The kids with ethnic names that I just butcher are almost always polite when they correct me.